OSX Leopard - Why Not ?

PC Magazine’s Edward Mendelson muses that “Leopard again raises the question of whether to switch from Windows to a Mac. I’ve found Vista to be a major disappointment that tends to look worse the more I use it.” Mac OS X Leopard, on the other hand, “is easier to manage and maintain and I vastly prefer OS X to Windows for Web-browsing, mail, and especially for any task that involves graphics, music, or video. Leopard performs all such tasks even better than previous versions did—and Leopard is the only OS on the planet that works effortlessly and intuitively in today’s world of networked computers and peripherals.” In fact Mendelson believes “it’s getting harder and harder to find good reasons to use anything else.”

See the full article here.

The only reason I *need* to use the Windows O/S is for certain kinds of software development. Everything else, for me personally, is better done in Mac OSX. For my software development I use Parallels or VMWare Fusion and run the Windows O/S virtualised. For me it is the perfect solution.

Apple’s computers are sexy, beautiful and a joy to use, as is OSX. When I need Windows it’s there within a window on the OSX desktop. The best of both worlds.

Even my ASP.Net based website runs within a virtualised Windows 2003 server hosted on a Mac Mini !

"Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game." - Donald Trump

Woman Dreams of Bomb ...

... so hundreds of people are evacuated from a North Sea Oil Platform. The woman, guilty of dreaming about a bomb, has been flown to Aberdeen Police Station for questioning. Apparently her dream caused the biggest security incident ever in the North Sea.

The full story from the Guardian can be found here.

If, as a nation, we continue with these over-reactions then we give the terrorists what they want. If their goal is to cause disruption and chaos within Western society - then they are winning, or have already won.

"The cruelest lies are often told in silence." - Robert Louis Stevenson

Online Tax Returns ... Too Risky ?

From October anybody in the UK wishing to file a Self Assessment Tax Return will have to do so online, otherwise they risk ‘severe financial penalties’.

Unless you are rich or famous.

In which case the system is not secure enough and you will be treated differently.

Are we not all entitled to the same level of protection and security regardless of our wealth or fame ?

For the full story see the Daily Telegraph

This kind of thing *really* annoys me ...

"The only difference between a rut and a grave... is in their dimensions." - Ellen Glasglow

Jeremy Clarkson Hacked

In a recent blog article I talked about the fact that the UK government has lost computer discs containing 25 million peoples records including information such as bank account details and national insurance numbers.

In his usual highly uninformed (but hilarious) way (ref: his comments on motorcyclists) he wrote in the Sun (rubbish tabloid) that this loss by the government wasn’t a big deal as after all the account details could be used only to put money in ... so to prove his point he published his own bank account details in the newspaper ...

He was therefore surprised when he saw his bank statement and realised that somebody had setup a monthly direct debit of £500 to the Diabetes Uk charity. I suspect if he has any honour he will cancel the Direct Debit but let them keep the £500 that has already been taken. He is lucky he attracted the attention of someone looking to prove a point not someone who actually wanted to rip him off ...
It was probably a tech savvy biker ☺

It’s a funny and fitting story - but it does prove a point - we should all be more careful in future ...

"Anger at lies lasts forever. Anger at truth can't last." - Greg Evans

Oracle: CUBE

ROLLUP and CUBE are extensions to the GROUP BY functionality of the Select statement. The following select statement demonstrates basic use of CUBE:

select soh_cucode, soh_owner, sum(soh_net) from guser.f_sohdr
where soh_date between '01 JUN 2007' and '30 JUN 2007'
group by cube (soh_cucode, soh_owner)

This statement will give output that looks like the following:



The output is very similar to the output from ROLLUP, with the exception that CUBE also performs a subtotal by Salesperson at the end of the results set, followed by the total for all Customers, the same as the ROLLUP option.

Between them CUBE and ROLLUP add an extra an very useful dimension to your SQL reporting toolkit. For more information or to explore the options further, consult the Oracle documentation.

Software Development * Security * Database * Technology * Training * Networking * Virtualisation
Technology Consultancy from GENeSYS Solutions
www.genesyssolutions.co.uk

"What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog." - Dwight D Eisenhower

Oracle: ROLLUP

ROLLUP and CUBE are extensions to the GROUP BY functionality of the Select statement. The following select statement demonstrates basic use of ROLLUP:

select soh_cucode, soh_owner, sum(soh_net) from guser.f_sohdr
where soh_date between '01 JUN 2007' and '30 JUN 2007'
group by rollup (soh_cucode, soh_owner)

This statement will give output that looks like the following:



Within Customer Code the Grouping occurs via the Salesperson. For each Salesperson a Summary Total is shown and then finally a Total for that Customer, basically the sum of the values of each Salespersons orders. The bottom of the results set shows the Total Value of orders within the period for all Customers.

So basically the ROLLUP has worked like this:

        TOTAL ORDERS BY SALESPERSON
        TOTAL ORDERS BY CUSTOMER
        TOTAL ORDERS

"Not the power to remember, but its very opposite, the power to forget, is a necessary condition for our existence." Sholem Asch

Blu-Ray Wins ?

The High Definition format war may just have been won by Sony’s Blu-Ray technology. Blu-Ray has been outselling HD-DVD by two to one recently and this week high profile Hollywood Studio Warners Bros have switched allegiances to the format.

In addition Microsoft have announced that an external Blu-Ray player may be made available to connect to their XBox-360 console.

Reminder To Self: Buy Playstation 3

"If you can react the same way to winning and losing, that is a big accomplishment. That quality is important because it stays with you the rest of your life." - Chris Evert

pcWatcher 1.0 Uploaded

I have just uploaded pcWatcher to my website. A screenshot can be viewed here and the program can be downloaded free of charge here. Here’s an extract from the README file supplied with the program:

PCWATCHER is a Windows utility, written in .NET that performs three functions:

Memory Monitor: pcWatcher monitors the amount of memory that you are using and displays it in real time within the window.

File Monitor: pcWatcher can monitor files that are Created, Deleted or Changed and displays these to the screen.

Spy Alert: pcWatcher checks for the existence of the spy programs Spector Pro and eBlaster, and alerts you if these are installed on your system.

In addition pcWatcher displays additional information such as the status of your network connection, the version of windows you are using, the computer and user name.

"Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you." - Carl Sandburg

GenDAT: Fantastic Software

www.fantasticfreeware.com have included GenDAT in their collection of 2000 of the best Freeware programs. Good Stuff ☺

"If you treat people right they will treat you right - ninety percent of the time." - Franklin D Roosevelt

Oracle: User Account Security ...

Oracle has a bewildering array of security features to help you to make sure that your users access only what they need and to ensure that you have very fine control over their abilities.

A couple of things you should look at first, the following parameters are off by default and you should make sure that unless you have a very good reason, they stay set to false:

O7_DICTIONARY_ACCESSIBILITY = FALSE
REMOTE_OS_AUTHENT = FALSE

In addition you should check the privileges that have been assigned to PUBLIC and remove any that you are not comfortable with. Remember the principle of ‘Least Privilege’.

You should also absolutely minimise the amount of users who have ADMIN access.

Whenever an Oracle database is created the users SYS and SYSTEM are also created. If you use DBCA (Database Configuration Assistant) to create your database you will also have SYSMAN and DNSNMP.

SYS - Data Dictionary Owner
SYSTEM - Admin Account
SYSMAN - Used by Enterprise Manager (EM)
DBSNMP - Used by Enterprise Manager (EM)

Check all the default accounts that are created and make sure that those you don’t initially need are locked and have their password expired. The following statement shows how this is accomplished:

ALTER USER pip PASSWORD EXPIRE ACCOUNT LOCK

Assuming you are using database authentication of your users, then password security rules are enforced through profiles. Listed below are some of the password security profile parameters that you can use:

FAILED_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS - maximum consecutive count
PASSWORD_LOCK_TIME - days (or part of ie: 5/1440 = 5 Minutes) to lock the account
PASSWORD_LIFE_TIME - maximum days for this password to exist
PASSWORD_GRACE_TIME - number of days following the first successful login after the password expiry and the users are reminded to change their password, but can still log in
PASSWORD_REUSE_TIME - minimum days before password reuse
PASSWORD_REUSE_MAX - minimum changes of password before reuse allowed

These parameters are set in the following way:

CREATE PROFILE passwordlimit LIMIT
PASSWORD_LOCK_TIME 1
FAILED_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS 3

"Courage is fear that has said its prayers." - Dorothy Bernard